And this is just the tip of the iceberg. I have been inundated by dresses and furniture and Hitty accessories of the finest quality. Stay tuned to catch more sneak peeks this week and feel free to share information about our auction on your blogs or with your friends.

June 15, 2013

In the past, I have curated auctions on behalf of Hittygirls to benefit victims of natural disasters in both Haiti and Japan. Between the two of them, we raised over $5,500.

This time the victims for which we hope to raise money are closer to home, in the heartland of our very own country, the victims of the Oklahoma Tornados.

I have started to receive some very generous donations that we intend to put up for auction on Ebay sometime in early July, after the 4th, and I wanted to share some of them with you to whet your appetite, of course, as you well know, before long all will be revealed and you will be able to see everything for yourself, but allow me a few moments of mystery to set the mood.

Among the donations I have received so far are two, count them, TWO, hand-carved artist Hittys, and one resin Hitty, any one of which would make an exquisite addition to your Hitty collection or an excellent first time Hitty for the new collector.

The first I have to present to you today is a resin Sara Cole Hitty that was donated as a the crowning glory of a collection of delightful southwestern items.

She is wearing a festive Cinco de Mayo dress in this photo. She comes tucked into her very own box, which also contains another delightful cowboy dress, Mexican maracas, a lovely vase (pictured here at her feet, cowboy boots and a ukelele/guitar (I am not sure which).

A big thank you to Elaine J. for your generous donation!

The second Hitty I received is a Gale Lyons original, and she is just "to die for."

This Hitty comes with her very own jointed dolly, also carved by Gale Lyons.

What rosey cheeks and look at those sweet, gentle eyes! She'll just melt your heart.

Thank you to Gale L. for this generous donation.

The third Hitty I have to share with you today was carved by Wanda Wildrick.

This Hitty is just precious and is jointed so that her arms rotate a bit more freely, and her eyes...

...you could just get lost in them!

Thank you to Wanda W. for this generous donation!

Along with these three Hittys, I have received a bundle of dresses and accessories which I look forward to sharing with you in bits and pieces over the next few days.

But that is not all...Guess what?!! I am expecting at least TWO MORE hand-carved dolls to add to our collection, so you will definitely want to stay tuned and count your dolly dollars!

If you wish to aid our efforts by making an appropriate donation, please contact me privately!

Also, please feel free to reblog these posts on your blog to help advertise our auction! Just hit the reblog link below!

June 12, 2013

I am sure some of you are confused by the concept of color coded dinnerware (see my last post), so I wanted to expound on this idea.

A few years ago, I read either an article or blog post in which the writer shared a problem she was encountering with her rather large family. Everytime she went into the kitchen to prepare a meal, the sink was filled with dirty dishes for which no one would take credit. To solve this problem, she decided to get rid of all her dinnerware leaving only one plate, one cup and one bowl for each member of her family. She purchased a set of glass dishes that she then had each family member personalize with glass paints, and then made them responsible for cleaning their own dishes. When dinnertime came, if their dish wasn't clean, they didn't eat, and because of the individualization of the dishes, she knew exactly who had washed their plates and who hadn't. I was having the same problem in my house, and since she seemed to think this worked really well, I decided to give it a try.

Pink Place Setting.

I didn't think I could stand to have hand decorated plates on my table, so I decided to assign each family member their own color place setting. My requirements were simple, they needed to be sturdy and microwave safe...we'd had too many plates that either had metal detailing or got too hot in the microwave. I researched dinnerware and immediately fell in love with the Cath Kidston plates you see here, but because I couldn't feel them in person and judge their quality, I gave them a pass and settled on fiestaware in peacock, avocado, tangerine and buttercup. We used these for a year, but the colors didn't appeal to me for long time use. I am really more of a shabby chic, pastel kind of girl. (I will say this in defense of the fiestaware dishes, they are incredibly sturdy and they come in more than four colors so they'd work great for a family larger than mine, plus you can find GREAT cloth napkins to go with these colors. They also work great in the microwave, and you buy them by the place setting, so you can get whatever colors you want).

When we were in England last Spring, I was able to see the Cath Kidston plates in person at the store and I could feel that they were sturdy, and because they had no metal detailing, they were microwave safe. Needless to say, I fell in love with them. They were perfect.

I contemplated them for almost nine months, and finally, last year for Christmas, I bought myself one set of them to see how they'd work out. They filled every one of my requirements and despite the flowery, girly nature of the design, my boys did not seem to be traumatized in the least. (I realized that they didn't care, dishes are a girl thing...boys just eat off of them. I will say, however, that my daughter was as pleased with them as I was.)

So for my birthday, I completed the set...we now have a set of 12 color coded plates, three for each of us, which allows me to fill my dishwasher again. I have to admit...I am really happy with them. It is funny how such a small thing can bring me so much joy.

Just a note, these dishes were imported from England; however right now Cath Kidston is shipping entire orders for $15, which isn't bad and I didn't have to pay VAT. Also, there is a set of salad plates that match the bowls pictured above, but I had already started the collection of salad plates you see here. When I went online to make my order, these salad plates were being discontinued so I was able to get them for 30% off. I quite like the combination.

I am sorry if this has been a tedious post for some of you. I have to admit...this little domestic adventure provided me with quite a bright spot this winter and spring and I wanted to share it with you.

June 10, 2013

Up until recently, I have allowed my children to get up and fend for themselves for breakfast before school.

Early morning light in my kitchen.

Now before you think I am a bad mother, I want to say in defense of myself that everyone in my house gets up at different times so we won't run out of hot water, the first of them tumbling out of bed at about 6:00 and the last at about 7:05. They leave the house between 7:30 and 7:50. For most of this time, I am sitting by myself in the kitchen barely able to keep my eyes open. (I am a night person, you know, and so I do NOT find alone time at 6:00 in the morning to be particularly exhilarating.)

But with all of the upset in our house this year (see last post), I have been desperately attempting to create more positive family time and a more supportive atmosphere. When things feel like they are falling apart, instead of getting mad at everyone else (or at least at some point after I get mad at everyone else), I ask myself what I can do differently to change the situation, and one of the ways I chose to implement in an attempt to positively affect our family attitude was to sacrifice my early morning sleep to get up and serve breakfast ... and not only serve it but sit there with the kids while they ate it.

Breakfast tea.

At first, my son was all like, "Why are you being a good mother all of a sudden? I liked it better when you were a bad mother." (Yes, he really said that.) But after about two weeks, he asked sweetly, "Will you keep getting up to fix us breakfast in the summer when school is out?" So I think he really did like it after all.

I don't know if it helped them get out the door quicker (which was one of my goals in being more present in the mornings), but I do think it gave the kids a better grounding for the day to spend a little time with me in the mornings. Generally, they ate at different times so I got time alone with each of them, and for the most part we didn't do much talking, but I think they liked the new routine.

Part of this routine, which I really think was my favorite part of the new morning ritual, included serving tea with a teapot, teacups, saucers and sugar and creamer.

My Cath Kidston dishes.

I asked them at one point if they would prefer mugs so they could carry them around the house while they got ready for school, and they both said no. I think there is something nice about slowing down for a few moments to enjoy a cup of tea during the morning rush to get out the door that we all liked.

What helped make this a delightful ritual for me, and kept me getting up morning after morning? I have to admit...my Cath Kidston dishes. I finally bit the bullet and ordered a full set. Well, I still need two more sets of bowls to complete the set, but as it is not soup season, I figure I stil have a little time. What I like most about them is that they are all in the same color scheme, but they don't all match. I love the mix and match look and we each get our own color plate and bowl (the teaset pictured here all matches but there are mugs that mix and match to go along with it).